Kaizen Assembly: Designing, Constructing, and Managing a Lean Assembly Line [Hardcover]

Chris A. Ortiz (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0849371872 | ISBN-13: 978-0849371875 | Publication Date: June 26, 2006 | Edition: 1

It is easy to learn the philosophy and the concepts of kaizen. It is quite another challenge to translate the philosophy into action. While most books expound on the underlying principles and theory, Kaizen Assembly: Designing, Constructing, and Managing a Lean Assembly Line takes you step-by-step through an actual kaizen event. This approach demonstrates in detail the mindset, the processes, and the practical insight needed to transform your current assembly line into a world-class lean operation.

Chris Ortiz brings the experience of over 150 successful kaizen events to the pages of this unique guide. Using clear, succinct, and unambiguous language rather than more general and esoteric terms found in other books, he explains how to implement waste reduction, 5S, time and motion studies, line balancing, quality-at-the-source, visual management, and workstation and assembly line design. Taking a unique approach, the book follows an example of the assembly process for an electric bike including illustrations of nearly every step along the way. Ortiz even includes the most valuable teaching tool of all: past mistakes, how they were overcome, and how to identify and avoid them.

Providing expert guidance that will last long after the consultants have left, Kaizen Assembly supplies the tools you need to make kaizen and lean assembly a permanent fixture at the heart of the shop floor.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 264 pages
• Publisher: CRC Press; 1 edition (June 26, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0849371872
• ISBN-13: 978-0849371875
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #136,835 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #40 in Books > Business & Investing > Industries & Professions > Industrial Relations

More About the Author

Chris Ortiz is a senior lean consultant and the owner of Kaizen Assembly. He has spent the majority of his professional career working for Fortune 500 companies, teaching and guiding them to become more efficient businesses. He has designed and constructed well over 100 assembly lines and other manufacturing processes resulting in millions of dollars in cost savings and waste reduction.

He has led nearly 150 kaizen events and has created dozens of company kaizen programs that have allowed manufacturers to implement and sustain lean manufacturing philosophies.

Chris has been featured in numerous trade magazines and newsletters such as Industrial Management Magazine, Industrial Engineer Magazine, and the Society of Manufacturing Engineers Lean Directions Newsletter.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Book I Can Use, July 7, 2006

By 

Catherine L. - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kaizen Assembly: Designing, Constructing, and Managing a Lean Assembly Line (Hardcover)

I have read plenty of books on kaizen and how it can be used in a lean manufacturing enviroment, and this one is by far the best I have come across. Kaizen Assembly provides so much information on assembly line design, I was first surprised Ortiz had unlocked his consulting vault. The chapter on conducting time studies has really helped me get a better understanding of how to do them. We struggled for a long time on this and I feel his system is the best. Ortiz clearly has been doing kaizen and kaizen events. The information in this book on how to conduct a kaizen event could have only been written by somone who has been in the kaizen trenches for some time. He brings together kaizen and lean assembly in a language I can understand by showing real life examples of 5S, workstation design, visual management, and the 7 wastes. His outline for planning and execution is again so perfectly mapped out, I am looking forward to trying out his implementation techniques.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally, July 13, 2006

By 

Phillip Stanton - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kaizen Assembly: Designing, Constructing, and Managing a Lean Assembly Line (Hardcover)

I am not the kind of person who writes comments to books I have read. I preordered this book with a lot of anticipation and it turned out to be what I expected..............a useable guide to lean implementation. The author unveils his secrets for sure and I found almost every page to be something I can use. Our company has been trying to find tools and resources that can be used to help us and we intend to order more copies of Kaizen Assembly for our lean program. His focus is on organization and following procedure with with tools and techniques I can use.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Why I use Kaizen Assembly in my classroom!, January 1, 2012

By 

Antigone - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kaizen Assembly: Designing, Constructing, and Managing a Lean Assembly Line (Hardcover)

This is my 5th semester using this book in our program. I had search for this type of book a long time and once I finally found it, we will keep on using it!

It is a very easy to use book with students walking in the door that do not have any background in Kaizen. It even includes a very well detailed out example of an event, data sets and all. Additionally, thinking about the students, it is a cost-effective book for them to purchase (especially compared to the costs of the text books for their other classes) and use for the class and keep (as a number of them have done) to bring to use at work to help them implement an event in the real world.

I highly recommend Kaizen Assembly to anyone and everyone looking to learn about Kaizen and how to make an event happen.